The Dragon Says: Is It Payback Time for the Lib Dems?

Published on: 21 May, 2023
Updated on: 23 May, 2023

The Battle for Guildford video certainly made an impact in the recent election. Views differ on how much and it might never be measurable but R4GV (Residents for Guildford and Villages) candidates reported it being mentioned frequently on the doorstep.

It is likely the video, with its recommendation not to vote R4GV, cost them seats and gave some to the Lib Dems; enough, just, to take control. And now, the video’s creator, Robin Horsley, the one-man, single-issue campaigner, is expecting payback.

This puts the Lib Dems in an invidious position and it will be difficult for them to deflect blame from now on. Even the legacy of the last four years was 50 per cent their responsibility.

Given the prominence of the subject in the election, many might be asking what is going to happen next about North Street?

Unlike Horsley, it is clear that planning is not the Lib Dems’ favourite subject nor their top priority. Their leader said NHS services and the Cost of Living Crisis were the issues being raised on the doorstep during the election campaign; surer ground for her, but what can a borough council do about those?

Cllr Tom Hunt

Meanwhile, email correspondence between Horsley and Cllr Tom Hunt (Lib Dem, St Nicolas) sent to The Dragon, shows that Horsley continues with unrealistic expectations.

He does not seem to want to hear the rational assessment of the situation, however sad, laid out by Hunt, who held the Development Management portfolio on the GBC Executive in recent years.

The campaigner wrote to Hunt: “I would have thought that to defend an appeal you need to be committed to that result, not capitulate before such an eventuality occurs.”

He goes on to seemingly demand Hunt’s resignation: “I understand you were supportive of the (North Street) scheme. So it would hardly seem appropriate for you to be involved in defending an appeal – a clear conflict.”

Then, presuming to know what the voters of Guildford want, he says: “The electorate will want to be sure, therefore, that whoever becomes the lead member for DM [Development Management] is not a supporter of the scheme…”.

The Lib Dem group at Millmead must feel that it is on a hiding to nothing with Mr Horsley. Realistically, as Cllr Hunt has tried to patiently explain, either a second application or an appeal (costly for the council to fight), is likely to succeed. This has been obvious to those more familiar with the planning process, who have been following this unhappy saga for some time.

In fact, the course was set when GBC failed to include an enforceable height limit in their Local Plan, a lamentable lapse for which all parties share some responsibility – with the notable exception of the Guildford Greenbelt Group.

But once the inevitable happens, Horsley and some Lib Dem voters might say: “But we thought you were going to stop it!” and declare open season for criticism and even more campaign videos.

Perhaps the Lib Dems, rather than meeting with Horsley to swap information, as one of their senior councillors did, should have distanced themselves and stuck to the truth; that by the time of the election there was little any party could do about North Street Planning.

Michael Gove MP

If the Lib Dems fail him perhaps Horsley will turn back to the Tories hoping that the scheme can be scotched by housing minister Michael Gove.

Gove might calculate that politically it is in the Conservatives’ interest to call in and block the scheme and come to the rescue of the traditionalists, for whom high blocks of flats should not be the future for Guildford.

This could win back some support for local Tories perhaps and help out his former PPS Angela Richardson, our MP, when it comes to the next general election – but it would look a bit odd for the normally pro-development Tories to get all Nimby.

As we all know, the Conservatives receive significant funding from the building industry. Gove himself has been criticised for receiving donations from developers, one who had a registered address in Chertsey Street, Guildford. Why would they make these donations without expecting something in return?

See: Local MPs’ Declared Outside Interests

Of course, North Street, and planning generally are not the only daunting challenges to face the new administration. Thanks in large part to government cuts, the financial situation is critical. It will be a struggle to maintain services, especially with a workforce that has itself been cut to the bone in order to make ends meet.

No wonder one Conservative councillor commented: “It is a time when it is better to be in opposition.”

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